Culture, Leisure and Entertainment

The Welsh Language

A few diarists made some comments about the Welsh language and its use.

• At the next table were a husband and wife, who were holidaying nearby. They were very interested to hear us speaking Welsh to Cari. It turned out that the man was Irish, but had been living in England since the age of 13 and he had all but lost the Irish language.
  
  
• I take a break and go out to buy a couple of things from the shops, and chance to see a few people I now. I stop to chat with a retired farmer, we greet each other in Welsh but quickly switch to English as my Welsh is not up to it. He has always spoken Welsh, despite when he was a boy the arrival of a "Proud Salopian" new headmaster who banned all usage of Welsh in the class or the playground at the (now closed) Llanafan Fawr Primary School. Our conversation rambles around the way that conversations do ~ we agree the country is slowly going to the dogs, we discuss the jet fighters seeming to be flying around low more often and put it down to the increasing chance of war in Iraq and maybe link-ups with troops on the Eppynt army range up the road, I hear about the importance of the letter W as the pre-eminent vowel in Welsh, and I learn that the unsigned alleyway from the main street down to the riverside car park is call Lon Hwyad (Duck Lane) because people used to herd their geese and ducks down from above the main Street and on down to the river.
  
  
• We had Welsh with Mrs G. You don't hear many people speaking Welsh around us. Not many people like learning Welsh but I don't mind it. I quite enjoy learning Welsh. it is good to learn a second language so there is more job choice.

• I phoned my mother who's recovering from a hip-replacement operation. She needed me to phone a plumber (she doesn't like speaking English on the phone or dealing with household administration).
• Ffoniais Gwilym Evans, Ffridd Caersws i ddatgan fy siom bod enwau Cymraeg cartrefi Carno yn cael eu newid i enwau Saesneg sef 'PENLAN' wedi mynd yn 'Meadow Cottage' a 'BRONWYLFA' wedi mynd yn 'Stickles'. Gwilym ydi Cadeirydd presennol Cyngor Sir Powys ac yr oeddwn eisiau egluro iddo pam roeddwn wedi ysgrifennu llythyr dwyieithog ato yn y Swyddfa.